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Paper Round: Arsenal to turn to Moussa Dembele and Virgil Van Dijk

Pete Sharland

Updated 16/07/2017 at 21:54 GMT

Arsenal are set to turn their attention to Moussa Dembele and Virgil Van Dijk. It's Monday's Paper Round.

Moussa Dembélé sous le maillot du Celtic Glasgow

Image credit: Getty Images

Arsenal to turn to Dembele and Van Dijk

We start with The Express who report Arsenal will turn to Celtic striker Moussa Dembele if Alexis Sanchez decides to leave the club given that Olivier Giroud is also likely to leave. Meanwhile Arsene Wenger also wants to bolste his defence with a £45 million move for Van Dijk.
Paper Round's view: The Dembele story surfaced in another paper (The Star) so there may be some legs. Dembele had an excellent season with Celtic and got some valuable experience. However there's an argument to be made that he may benefit from one more season with the Scottish Champions before making his big move. Nothing need be said on Van Dijk, whoever sign him will almost certainly overpay but they will get one of the best central defenders in the Premier League.

But Arsenal confident of keeping Sanchez with new deal

However in The Mirror it is reported that Arsenal and Wenger are growing increasingly confident that they will be able to persuade Sanchez to stay for at least one season. Whilst Manchester City remain his most likely destination, with the Chilean's wage demands having put off Bayern Munich and PSG, Arsenal believe a free transfer next season is more likely. They will also continue to push to bring Thomas Lemar in from Monaco.
Meanwhile in The Sun it is reported that Sanchez will be offered a massive new contract of £275,000 per week in order to stay with the club for one more season.
Paper Round's view: This saga is just going to drag on and on until the end of the window isn't it? One day Sanchez is going and the next he's staying. Just throw the cards in the air and see how they land if you want to try and guess this one.

Klopp not budging on transfer targets

Moving to The Telegraph where Jurgen Klopp has been speaking about how he will not be budging on his transfer targets for the summer. Klopp has so far brought in Mohamed Salah and Dominic Solanke but high-profile chases of Van Dijk and Naby Keita have not come off as of yet. However Klopp remained optimistic and said he believes he has the financial backing of the club.
Paper Round's view: Klopp makes a valid point with regards to how much Premier League clubs are having to spend. Given how talented Keita and Van Dijk are it is probably worth spending big to get them and not their second-choices.

Newcastle make move for Ojo

We end with The Sun where it is reported that Rafa Benitez wants to raid his former club to sign Sheyi Ojo for £10 million. Ojo could be allowed to leave because he isn't a key part of Klopp's plans and Newcastle believe they can beat off interest from Middlesbrough.
Paper Round's view: Ojo is a talented player but he's also a player who badly needs minutes. That Newcastle squad might just be too bloated for him to get regular football, Middlesbrough may be a better option.
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